The Game
by ATPD
Summary: Sequel to Undercover Isn't Always Easy, but you don't have to read that one first. Two-and-a-half months after the events in the city of Amsel, Roy Mustang receives a call from a terrified Anthony Evans, Edward Elric's friend. Apparently the kid is the prize in a game and the Fullmetal Alchemist and Roy Mustang are the players. NO PAIRINGS! Some parental Roy/Ed and torture later on
1. Chapter 1

**So, here we are, the sequel to Undercover Isn't Always Easy.**

**Now first of all, I've written this story so that you can read it without reading the first story, but just to warn you, there will be some spoilers for the first one.**

**I hope you will all enjoy this story, I'll probably keep up my usual updating schedule with at least one chapter a day.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Anthony Evans was walking home, happily anticipating another letter from Ed. Even though Ed wasn't always able to read Anthony's replies, he still managed to send a reply every single week He always had something new and interesting to say, or some tips on Anthony's alchemy. Anthony always enjoyed the letters from his friend. He had been so bored with no one to talk about scientific stuff with ever since his Dad died over two years ago, and all of a sudden he had befriended an undercover Edward Elric just little under three months ago. Anthony also had Ed to thank for his now full bookshelves, stuffed with recent scientific tomes.

Anthony walked over to the many mailboxes hanging outside the apartment complex. He found the untidy scrawl that belonged to Ed. Anthony didn't mind the way he wrote, he was frankly impressed that it was even legible, the kid had only been writing with his non-dominant hand for less than two years after all. The first few letters had been written by Al though, seeing as how Edward's fingers had been broken by that maniac about two-and-half months ago. Only the last four letters had been written by Ed himself.

He opened the letter and read the first few lines, smiling, when someone suddenly put a hand on his shoulder. Anthony turned around, coming face-to-face with a tall, thin man wearing a hood that obscured his eyes. "You Anthony Evans, kid?"

"Yes, why do you-" the man had jabbed a needle into his neck, and Anthony quickly grew very sleepy.

"We're playing a game, and you, dear boy, is the prize," was the last thing Anthony heard before everything turned black and he slumped into the stranger's outstretched arms.

* * *

Roy was sitting in his office contemplating whether he would risk the chance of going to get a cup of coffee before the Lieutenant returned from her latrine break. He figured that it probably wouldn't be such a good idea, and instead put his head on the desk, wanting desperately to find an escape from the stacks of paperwork he had to sign.

The phone rang.

Roy started and banged his nose against an ink bottle in the process, sending ink over the already signed papers on his desk. Cursing, Roy righted the bottle before he wiped his fingers with a tissue from a box sitting on his desk.

He gripped the phone, bringing it up to his ear.

"This is Colonel Mustang."

"Colonel Mustang, there is an Anthony Evans calling to you from an outside line, he says it's urgent."

_The kid from Amsel?_

Roy was confused, why would he want to speak with him? Fullmetal had probably given him the number to keep in contact.

_But why is it urgent? Is Fullmetal in trouble again?_

"Put him through."

There was a click and a buzz, and suddenly Roy was met by a sharp intake of breath as he said hello.

"Mr. Mustang, Sir? Is that you?" The kid was obviously scared.

"Yes, it's me, what is it?"

"I need to talk to you and Ed, please, Sir!"

"Why both of us?"

"There's this man and he says he wants to talk to you."

"Why did you say it was urgent?"

"Because he's pointing a gun at my head, Sir."

Roy immediately tensed. This was a hostage situation.

"What is it the man wants us for?" he said in a much more professional voice.

"He says you're the participants of a game. Apparently I'm the prize. Mr. Mustang, please get Ed. If you haven't got him in your office to answer the next call in three hours, he says he'll start mailing you my fingers." There was a slight pause. "I'm scared, Sir."

"Don't worry, we're going to help you, I'll have Fullmetal here within three hours."

"Thank y-" There was a sharp click and the phone started beeping.

Roy threw the receiver down, cursing.

Which was when Hawkeye returned to the office.

"Sir, is something wrong?"

"Find Fullmetal immediately!"

* * *

Ed was sitting outside a café eating a bun. He had taken a break from his research in order to find some lunch. Al was therefore left in the library. Ed was about to take his third bite when he suddenly saw Havoc running for him. He stood up, something was obviously wrong judging by the urgency in Havoc's tone as he shouted Ed's name.

"What's going on?"

"Boss wants to see you, it's important. He'll tell you when you see him."

"Okay, why is he so secretive?"

"He'll explain it to you."

Ed followed him to East City HQ. They went up to Mustang's office. Ed kicked the door open. Mustang was sitting at his desk, surrounded by Hawkeye, Falman, Fuery and Breda. They were all looking tense.

"Okay, Colonel, what the hell's going on here?"

"I got a call a few hours ago from Anthony Evans."

"Anthony? What did he want? What's wrong?"

"He's being held hostage by a man demanding that you and me be participants in a game of his device. Apparently Anthony's the prize."

"What?! Did he say something more?!"

"Apparently this man would start mailing me Anthony's fingers if you weren't there to receive the next call in three hours. That was two-and-a-half hours ago."

Ed felt sick. Anthony was in trouble because of him.

"Was he hurt?"

"Not from what I could hear. He only sounded scared."

"Shit! What the hell is this?!"

"I don't know yet, Fullmetal, but we're not going to let your friend die."

"Can one of you please get Al for me?"

Hawkeye went for the door. "Where can I find him, Edward?"

"He's at the library."

She nodded and then left the room.

They waited in silence for the next thirty minutes. Hawkeye and Al returned after twenty-five.

Then the phone rang.

Mustang answered it.

"This is Colonel Roy Mustang… Yes, put him through… Yes, I've got him here."

Ed stepped forward and took the phone from Mustang.

"Anthony? Has he hurt you?"

"No. He says for you to listen to this riddle, it is the first step of the game."

"Okay, tell me."

"I have six eyes that one cannot see. Find me before the clock strikes three. Do this or else his blood will run free."

_Shit!_

"Ed, did you catch that?"

"Yes. Listen, Anthony, I'm not going to let him hurt you, just hang on in there!"

"Ed, he says one more thing, if anyone else than both you and Colonel Mustang nears the place or leaves the office, or tells anyone else than the eight people involved, he'll shoot me."

"Okay, me and the Colonel will do this together."

"Ed, I'm sorry for this."

"Don't be, it's not your fault."

Then there was a click and the noises indicating that the other had hung up the phone.

Ed punched a hole in the desk with his automail fist.

For once the Colonel didn't reprimand him for destroying military property.

"What did he say?"

""I have six eyes that one cannot see. Find me before the clock strikes three. Do this or else his blood will run free."" Ed quoted.

"So we have until three o'clock. That's fifty-five minutes from now. Anything else, Fullmetal?"

"If we involve anyone else, he'll shoot Anthony. And the two of us have to go together."

"Very well, we'll go."

"Also, if anyone other than you and me leave the office, Anthony's dead."

"Fine. Now everyone, what's got six eyes that one cannot see?"

They kept making wild suggestions for about forty minutes, but then Mustang suddenly lit up. "Six eyes that one cannot see! Damn it Hughes, thank you!"

"What are you talking about, Colonel?!" Ed demanded. Their time-limit was almost up.

"Hughes took me to the East City Park with Elicia a month ago. They have a large fake spider with only two eyes in the playground there!"

"Then that's it, let's go!"

"We'll take my car."

The two of them left the office, Ed saying goodbye to Al.

* * *

Roy strode quickly to the car, Fullmetal almost jogging beside him.

They got into the car, and were soon out of the HQ area.

"Listen, Fullmetal, we're not going to let him kill Anthony, okay?"

"How can you even promise something like that? We know nothing about this maniac except that he doesn't have anything against cutting off a thirteen-year-old's fingers! And that he obviously has taken an interest in us two!"

"We're going to do everything we can to find Anthony alive, then." Roy knew that the kid was probably scared out of his wits, and Roy couldn't blame him. Fullmetal had never had anyone he cared about being threatened before. But Roy wasn't comfortable about this. The people that he had been threatened with had never thirteen.

"Hold on, this guy saw us in the office, he knew there were eight of us. I know where we're gonna look after we've been to the park. I can't risk him killing Anthony if my hunch is wrong or we don't find him in time."

"I see. He must have been near the office so that he could watch us."

"Yeah, which means that he must have been in one of the buildings that could see in through your window. How long do we have left?"

"Eleven minutes."

Roy parked the car when there was six minutes to spare. They ran towards the giant, blue spider Roy hoped he remembered correctly where was. He checked his watch, three minutes to go. They ran faster, the kid hardly seemed to be faced with running for this long. And Roy knew how heavy that automail was after having to carry him after saving him from that madwoman.

Roy on the other hand, was running on adrenaline and little else.

They reached the spider after a minute and fifteen seconds.

There was an envelope fastened to it by a piece of tape.

Fullmetal tore it from the Spider.

Inside was another riddle, and Fullmetal read it out loud.

_"Good for you two, _

_You deserve some applause,_

_Now here's the next clue,_

_You know the drill, or what it will cause._

_Now what you must find, is golden dirt._

_And oops, I'm sorry, I think that will hurt."_

Fullmetal suddenly gasped beside him, an arrow had run through the right side of his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And thank you so much to the people who have already followed, favourited and reviewed this story!**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Ed fell to his knees, gasping. The arrow was sitting straight through the right side of his abdomen. The arrowhead was coming out in the front, the end still sticking out of his back.

And damn did it hurt.

Mustang was kneeling beside him in a flash, gripping his shoulders.

"Okay, Fullmetal, we need to get you to a hospital."

"But what about Anthony? And you could maybe still catch this son of a bitch if you'd just run in the direction of where the arrow struck from."

"And he could have an accomplice and the arrow could be poisoned." He sounded slightly annoyed.

"Fine." Ed coughed.

"We can't pull the arrow out, that would probably cause it to start bleeding like hell."

"Great. Help me up, we need to get to the car."

The Colonel turned around, and put his right arm behind Ed's back as Ed lifted his left arm to rest on Mustang's right shoulder. It hurt like hell as they straightened out, and Ed leaned most of his weight on the older man as they slowly walked to the car. Each step was agony, and Ed was glad that people saw Mustang's military uniform, which meant that nobody asked any uncomfortable questions.

They got to the car after about fifteen minutes, and Ed could hardly walk by the time they reached it. He ended up lying on his side in the back seat, moaning slightly each time they hit a bump or a hole in the road.

"How are you doing, Fullmetal?" Mustang sounded worried, and Ed couldn't blame him. There was quite a lot of blood by now.

All in all, Ed didn't think he was going to die, but he didn't particularly enjoy this either.

* * *

Roy was both angry and worried. The kid wasn't looking too good and he had a bloody arrow sticking out of his stomach. Damn that man!

He was gripping the steering wheel tighter, noticing the lack of speech from the back seat."Fullmetal, is there something you're not telling me?"

"There's a lot of blood."

"How much?" Damn that black and red the kid always insisted on wearing.

"A lot."

Roy hit the steering wheel while uttering another string of curses.

When they finally reached the hospital, Fullmetal was really pale and his gloved hands were covered with blood. Still, he insisted on walking into the hospital. Roy did see his point though, if he were to be carried, it would most likely shift the arrow around and cause him a great deal of pain and maybe start even more bleeding. So the kid was leaning on him heavily, barely holding a third of his own weight.

Once they got inside, Mustang shouted for help.

"Oh, my! Right this way, Sir!" a nurse told him upon seeing them.

Fullmetal was soon surrounded by a team of doctors and was in for surgery in five minutes.

Roy sat in the waiting area, worried. Every rational thought told him that this was never meant to kill the kid, but there were a lot of thoughts concerning morbid "what if"s.

Roy was still wondering why someone would target him and Fullmetal like this. And who would have reason to harm Fullmetal in that way? Of course he had made some enemies during these last seven months after he joined the military, but still, a fucking arrow? And who knew about Anthony? Did this have something to do with Amsel?

After two hours, a doctor came out of the double doors.

"Are you the one who came in with Edward Elric?"

"Yes. How is he?"

"He lost a lot of blood and there was some internal damage, but we did our best and are confident that he will make a full recovery."

"Good."

"You can go see him now, but he probably won't wake up before tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you."

"He's in room 217."

"Thank you, doctor." He stood up and shook his hand.

"Just take care of that kid, it seems he has already seen way too much pain for someone his age."

_You have no idea._

"I will."

Roy found Fullmetal's room, and sat down in the chair next to the bed. He felt extremely vulnerable right now. He was separated from his team, from backup, everything other than this unconscious kid who three hours ago had an arrow piercing his stomach.

Though he hated to admit it, right now, he was completely at the mercy of a sadistic madman and his sick "game".

Roy kept on musing through the night, only interrupted by the occasional nurse and/or doctor, until the small body next to him shifted slightly in the early hours of the morning.

"Hey, Fullmetal."

"Colonel, what, uh, oh." He shifted under the covers before he pulled up his hospital shirt and found the bandages around his midsection. He winced a bit and put his hand on the wound. "Damn, it hurts."

"Don't doubt it. How are you feeling?"

"Tired and in pain."

"Understandable."

"You find out anything else about our kidnapper?"

"No, not really."

"Great. Anthony must be scared as hell."

"Listen, Fullmetal, we'll get him back, I swear."

He didn't answer.

Nothing more happened until about noon, when a nurse suddenly came into the room.

"Excuse me, Mr. Mustang, Mr. Elric? Someone came in delivering this letter to you."

"Who? What did they look like?!" Fullmetal demanded.

"A young boy with light brown hair. He looked scared, but he said he was alright."

Roy shared a look with Fullmetal.

"Thank you, Miss," Roy told her, and she bowed and left the room.

Roy tore open the envelope.

_I'm proud, you two have done very well,_

_And Anthony's fine, as you can tell._

_And as for days, you only have two,_

_Otherwise you both know what I'll do._

Roy handed the letter to Fullmetal.

"Two days, huh? I guess that's at least a bit more generous than last time," Fullmetal said.

"He's taking your injury into account, he wants you to keep playing, I think."

"Oh, great! How considerate!" he said sarcastically.

"But you honestly shouldn't move from this hospital. You could bleed to death if your wound reopens. The doctors told me that you should really stay in bed for at least a week."

"Screw that, I'm not risking Anthony's life!"

"I figured you'd say so."

"Good, then we agree, now what about that riddle?"

"Golden dirt."

"Well, the last clue hinted to a specific place, so first of all we should get a map of the city."

"They'll probably have one in the shop on the ground floor here."

"Great. Go get one."

* * *

Ed was angry. He was in pain and he had a freaking hole in his stomach. He didn't say it to the Colonel, but he was scared. If this guy didn't mind shooting him with a fucking arrow, what could he do to Anthony? And to be honest, he was scared of what this man was planning for him and Colonel Mustang too. Ed had a feeling that this wasn't the first time they'd get hurt during this "game".

Mustang returned holding a map of East City. He pulled his chair over to Ed's side so that they could both face the map from the same angle. He then unfolded it and soon they were staring at it, trying to figure out what the "golden dirt" was.

"I'll take the left side, and you do the right?" Mustang suggested.

"Yeah, sure."

Ed scanned the map, looking through it, once, twice, five times.

Nothing.

Then Ed stopped on his sixth time, suddenly pointing at the map.

"Hey, Colonel, the church here, isn't that the one that sends golden light over the graveyard when the sunlight hits the paint?"

"You're right! Golden dirt, indeed."

"So we know the place, so what are we waiting for?"

"Fullmetal, you could die if you leave here."

"Fine, then I'll go in a wheelchair!"

"Are you sure? You can't keep your IV, then."

"Screw that, needles are evil anyway!"

"You really do sound like a kid sometimes."

"Shut up! Now get me a wheelchair!"

Mustang stood up and left the room, and Ed ripped the IV out of his left arm. Mustang returned ten minutes later with a wheelchair. Ed gingerly stood up, heading for the wheelchair, when Mustang suddenly stopped him. "Wait a second." He went over to where his heavy, black coat was hanging, and turned back to Ed. "This way we can shield your hospital clothes."

He helped Ed get his arms inside the overly large garment. It touched the floor. He helped Ed gently get into the wheelchair. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Ed grimaced a bit, moving around was absolute torture.

Maybe this wasn't really such a good idea.

Mustang had left his military jacket back at the hospital room in order to stay slightly more unrecognisable, so he was in his shirt and military trousers. They kept looking down, hoping not to meet anyone who recognised them and forced Ed back into bed. They somehow got out of the hospital, and Mustang lifted Ed inside the car, despite Ed's many protests.

They drove for about thirty minutes until they reached the graveyard. Mustang pushed Ed along, trying to find whatever they were looking for. They must have passed over two hundred gravestones before they found something that made Ed's blood run cold. Someone had plastered two of the gravestones with pictures of them. In the middle of each of the gravestones, there was written "ROBBIE-BOY" and "THE GOLDEN BOY", one for each of them.

"How the hell does he know about the nickname I used for you in Amsel?" Ed asked incredulously.

"I'm more worried about the fact that they know what the serial killer called you in her diary."

"She did? And I thought she couldn't get any creepier."

"So then we can be sure that this is about Amsel, then."

"And that he plans to kill us, judging by the way that he used gravestones."

"But there's no riddle here."

Mustang bent down and started removing the pictures, trying to find anything under them. He searched under the one with the pictures of Ed and the title "THE GOLDEN BOY", but found nothing. When he searched "ROBBIE-BOY", there was suddenly a click, and the next thing Ed knew, Mustang had thrown him to the ground underneath him, and the gravestone exploded.

"Colonel? Are you okay?" Ed asked, his wound was screaming in pain.

Mustang just grunted.

"Colonel!"

"I don't think so," he croaked.

"What do you mean?"

"HEY! ARE YOU TWO OKAY?!" A young man came running towards them.

Mustang rolled off Ed, and Ed gingerly sat up, noticing that the sharp pain in his abdomen most likely meant that he had reopened the wound. He took a look at Mustang's back, the back of his shirt had been burned off and most of the skin had been slashed by rocks, leaving the whole back a bloody mess. There was especially one deep gash that worried Ed. He slid the coat off his shoulders, pressing it against the Colonel's bleeding back.

"Call for an ambulance!" Ed noticed the steadily growing crimson stain on his hospital shirt. "For two, I think."

The man ran away, and Ed was left in the graveyard trying to keep both Mustang and himself from bleeding out.

Someone came over to Ed and handed him a note.

_So sorry about leaving you here,_

_But I guess I just had to be fair._

_You called my dear sister insane._

_And so I will deal you both a lot of pain._

Then the stranger hit Ed in the face and he slammed to the ground and was soon welcoming sleep as Mustang shouted his name in a fainter and fainter voice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here we are, chapter three.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And thank you so much to the readers, favouriters, followers and reviewers! You guys make this so much fun to write!**

* * *

**Chapter Three.**

Ed woke up to find himself back in the hospital. He groaned. His wound was aching a lot. He turned his head to his right to find the Colonel lying on his stomach on the bed next to him. They were both in light turquoise hospital clothes.

"You need to listen to us doctors, Sir, your subordinate nearly got himself killed by going outside yesterday." A doctor in his fifties was sternly lecturing the Colonel.

"We weren't planning on getting caught up in an explosion, though." Mustang was both annoyed and _ashamed?_

"That may well be, Sir, but what were you thinking when you brought a thirteen-year-old child with such a critical arrow wound out of the hospital less than twenty-four hours after he got injured?"

Ed could feel the man's scolding affect him and even he was cringing from guilt although the doctor wasn't even aware that Ed was awake.

"As his elder and, not to speak of, his commanding officer, you should never have done such a thing."

Mustang wasn't saying anything, he was actually looking shameful, looking like a little kid being scolded by a parent. Ed would probably have enjoyed the sight if it hadn't been for the fact that the reason for Mustang's scolding was Ed himself.

"Hey, give him a break, I'm the one who insisted that we'd go," Ed said, startling the two men.

"Ah, so you're finally up, young man. You know, you did a really stupid thing yesterday and you're lucky to be alive."

_Ah, crap, so now he's having a go at me?_

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I won't do it again."

"What on earth possessed you to leave the hospital in the first place?"

"That is confidential as it's part of an ongoing military investigation," Mustang said, saving Ed.

"But still, in your condition." He tsk-ed. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Colonel Mustang."

The man left.

"Colonel, did you read the note yesterday that the man gave me before he knocked me out?"

"No, he took it from you as he left, I'm sorry I was unable to stop him."

"It said something about letting things be fair, and that he was going to make us suffer for calling his sister insane, which I think means that he's that serial killing maniac's brother."

"Grace Hopkins is coming back to haunt us, in other words. It makes sense that he would want revenge, I'm the reason she's dead after all. And anyone who read that report would know that she was burned to death, which explains the bomb."

"But what does he want with me?"

"He does seem to have an unhealthy fixation with you, but so did his sister. If he has read her notes, which I guess he did judging by the "Golden Boy" title, it is possible that he's trying to fulfil her final wish which was basically to torture you to death."

"Sounds great," Ed said exasperatedly.

"I guess he's planning on slowly torturing us both before he kills us."

"Lucky us. I really hoped that knowing who's targeting us would help us stop this from happening, but it doesn't seem like it."

"And it could be that he has been planning this for as long as two-and-a-half months. That's a lot of time to gather information on us. If he has informants, it would be very easy to know about Anthony, and someone could have heard about my "nickname" from anyone who works at that hospital. Could even be from corrupt soldiers at East HQ."

"That's a cheerful thought."

"Believe me, I know." Mustang sighed.

"How's your back, by the way?"

"Painful. What about you?"

"Yeah, same."

"They're not exactly happy with us, you know." He gestured his head towards the door.

"Kind of got that."

"But they're right. I shouldn't have taken you with me."

"Yeah, and then that bastard would have shot Anthony!"

"Fair point."

"Listen, Colonel? … Uhm… thanks for shielding me yesterday."

Mustang just nodded.

"How do you think Al and the rest of your team is doing? Do you think they've left the office?"

"They heard the instructions. Most likely they've been living off of cafeteria food and only been moving inside HQ just to be safe."

"Well, that's good I guess."

They grew quiet after that, and Ed sunk back into his pillows and tried to get some more sleep.

* * *

What the doctor had said had stuck with Roy long after Fullmetal fell asleep. He hadn't really thought about how this looked to anyone outside this situation. Parts of him were quite frankly disgusted with himself. He somehow had a habit of forgetting that Fullmetal was in fact just _thirteen_. And Mustang was the one who had convinced him to join the military. He had basically convinced an eleven-year-old child to go through automail surgery. Had convinced him to join a military that put him in danger no kid should face. He had been on assignments that had nearly killed him. Hell, Mustang had been in the same city as him when he had been tortured to the point of temporarily losing his voice from screaming. It didn't really matter that the military was probably the only way for the kid to try and find a way to regain his and his brother's bodies.

_Life can really be cruel as hell to people who don't deserve it._

Roy shouldn't have agreed to take Fullmetal out of the hospital.

But then Anthony would have been killed.

_I don't care what happens, I will burn that man just like I did his sister._

That shit had already hurt his subordinate, hurt Roy, and he planned to keep on doing this. For how long, he didn't know.

God how he itched to burn that man to a crisp.

The door suddenly opened, and two pairs of feet entered the room, one pair taking much lighter steps than the other.

Roy turned his head around, and his heart caught in his throat. Anthony was standing next to a tall man he had never seen before. And he was holding a hand on the boy's shoulder. Anthony was terrified.

"Good evening, Roy." The man spoke in a light, slow voice. It was almost sensual.

"You!"

"Ah-ah-ah, Roy, it wouldn't be a good idea to shout for help. I could easily shoot every single one of the room's occupants before anybody has time to even get here. You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

The man had red hair like his sister. He also had the same mad glint in his eyes. What worried Roy the most, though, was the way he was smiling, like he was taking immense pleasure in seeing them in such pain.

The man suddenly rushed forward, leading Anthony in front of him, before he hit his gun hard against Roy's back. Roy bit down on his lip, barely holding back a scream. "I asked you a question! Now answer!"

Roy cursed inwardly. "No, I wouldn't," he said through gritted teeth.

"That's more like it." The man took a deep breath before he returned to his usual way of speaking. "You burned my sister to death. I will make you pay for that. I will make you pay by making you feel every single twinge of pain that it caused me when I heard about it." He leaned down to his ear. "You understand?"

When Roy didn't answer immediately, he gripped him by the hair, forcefully making him nod. "Good."

Fullmetal suddenly shifted in the bed next to him, but he kept on sleeping. The madman shifted his attention to him. "Ah, and here he is, _the Golden Boy._" He was savouring the words as if he was the world's most desirable piece of confectionary, tasting each syllable hungrily.

Roy really wanted to get the man as far away from his subordinate as possible.

The man stretched out his hand, cupping Fullmetal's cheek. "My, my. This is a special one. I may not have my sister's special talent in hearing the song that this boy emits, but I still have a talent of my own. I can recognise true beauty, and what a beautiful boy this is. This truly is a special one."

The man started stroking his fingers through Fullmetal's hair.

"Don't you touch him!" Roy exclaimed.

"Or you'll do what exactly? There is nothing you can to stop this, Roy. You are in no condition to fight me, and if you decided to try, I could shoot you before you even had the chance to do anything. You are completely at my mercy. You are **useless**, Roy."

Roy hated to admit it, but the man was right. And it scared him. If Roy made a single move that this man didn't like, he could shoot both him and Fullmetal, as well as Anthony for good measure.

The man suddenly held out a pair of handcuffs. "Anthony, dear, please fasten Edward's hands to the bed with these. We can't have him using his annoying little alchemy, now, can we?"

Anthony looked at Roy fearfully. It was very obvious that he didn't want to do that. Roy gave him a slight nod. For now, they would just have to play along. Just as long as this man had a gun much too close to his subordinate for Roy's liking.

Anthony took the handcuffs, first fastening Fullmetal's right wrist to the metal railing on the side of the bed. Then he walked around and did the same to his left wrist.

The movement of his flesh arm seemed to wake Fullmetal up slightly, and the kid tensed immediately as he looked up into the maniac's face. He tried bringing his hands up to attack him, but to no avail. The handcuffs just clanged against the railing.

"Who are you?"

"My dear boy, I am so glad you asked!" He cupped both of Fullmetal's cheeks with an eager smile on his face. "My name is Charles Hopkins and I have waited so long to meet you dear boy! And I have to say, you are such a _beautiful_ specimen!"

"What the hell are you doing here?! Get off me!"

Charles suddenly drew back his right hand, punching Fullmetal right where the arrow wound was, making him gasp in pain.

"I do not appreciate such language, Edward! Young boys like yourself should speak properly to their elders."

"**Go to hell!**"

Charles then suddenly started leaning his weight on Fullmetal's wound with his right hand, placing his left over his mouth in order to silence the screams of pain.

"You bastard! Let go of him!" Roy said.

Charles turned swiftly around, punching Roy hard in the back.

Roy bit back a curse and a scream, provoking this bastard obviously wasn't a good idea.

"Anthony!" Fullmetal suddenly exclaimed.

Roy looked over at the two friends, as did Charles.

"Go on, Anthony, talk to him. This is their reward after all."

"H-hi, Ed."

"Are you alright!? Has he done anything to you?"

"I'm alright, he hasn't done anything. He said you'd done as he instructed, so I'm fine."

"I brought him here as a reward for solving the last riddle so quickly," Charles added.

"I'm s-so sorry, Ed! He took me as I was w-walking home! He plunged a needle into my neck, and next moment he had me write all these poems and riddles and he said he'd kill you if I didn't, but then he hurt you all the same, and he says he'll kill Mum if I do anything I'm not supposed to! I'm sorry!" He started crying.

Roy felt like strangling the man who was responsible for this.

Charles suddenly put his left hand behind Fullmetal's head, stroking his neck with his thumb. Fullmetal immediately tensed.

"And now that you know that Anthony is doing very fine, we will leave you two in peace." He put his right hand on Fullmetal's cheek, tilting his head towards him. "And so, my dear, it was very nice meeting you in person. _My Golden Boy_. I'll be seeing you again soon."

He removed his hands from Fullmetal's head before he swiftly elbowed Roy in the back, making him shout out in pain.

"Come along now, Anthony." He turned as he was about to leave through the door. "The game resumes in one week, I suggest you two stay at Roy's place, or who knows what will happen." He placed a hand on Anthony's shoulder to demonstrate his point. Then he turned around, leaving the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And once again, thank you so much to every reader, follower, favouriter and reviewer, you guys make my day!**

* * *

**Chapter four**

Ed was just staring at the door as it swung shut behind Charles Hopkins and Anthony.

Then he swore.

Repeatedly.

"What the hell was that!?" he said, still staring at the door.

"I think that was our tormentor."

"Was he coming on to me?"

"I don't think so, luckily. He honestly seemed more like he wanted to display you on a shelf."

"Because that's such a comforting thought…"

"Fair enough. Are you alright?"

Ed looked away from the door, and his eyes rested instead upon the red stain that was slowly growing on his stomach. "Ah shit! The psychopath reopened my wound!"

Mustang quickly pushed the red button on the wall beside his bed.

Ed could only watch as the blood spread over his stomach. The handcuffs were still keeping him in place and his wound was burning with pain.

He looked over at Mustang, and saw that there was blood spreading on his back too.

"Colonel?"

"Yes?"

"Your back's bleeding."

"Fuck."

"What do we tell the nurses?"

"That someone from our investigation broke in and decided to torture us for a bit?"

"We can't tell them that!"

"How would you explain the handcuffs then?"

"Ah, shit, fine Colonel."

There were two gentle knocks upon the door, and then a nurse came in. She smiled at them and then her jaw fell as she took in the scene before her. "W-what happened here?!" She rushed forward towards Ed, obviously deeming his injury more severe. Ed couldn't blame her, there was a lot of blood, and though he hated to say it, his head was getting woozy.

"The criminal from our investigation broke in and attacked us," Mustang told the confused nurse as she opened Ed's hospital shirt and started pressing his covers against the soggy bandages.

As the nurse hadn't turned off the alarm in the nurse's station, another one soon entered the room. The first nurse quickly shouted out a couple of orders to the other, and a minute later, a team of two doctors and four nurses were inside the room, tending to the two patients.

Ed's wound was sown up again before a fresh set of bandages were applied. He was only released from his bed after fifteen minutes, when they finally agreed to let Mustang get up from his bed and gave him a piece of chalk to draw a transmutation circle with and he released Ed's automail arm so that he could clap his hands and free the other.

He had to get moved into a new bed, seeing as how the mattress and the sheets were stained with blood.

After changing into a new set of hospital clothes, he was finally given the thumbs up to get back into bed.

Which meant that he was just about ready to murder Charles Hopkins by the time all of this was done.

When they were finally left alone again, Ed had quite a few things he wanted to discuss.

"So he's not interested in killing me then."

"Not unless he's into taxidermy."

Ed turned faintly green at the thought. "Aah! Colonel! Don't say stuff like that! I don't even want to think about being hollowed out and then stuffed and put on display that psycho's shelf!"

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

"Well, it's not working!"

"Back to the point then, he said he'd be seeing us again soon. Question is if that is before "the game" resumes or not."

"Or if he only intends to be talking to me. He could have been speaking to both of us or just me."

Ed did not want to meet that guy again on his own. He had been freaked out by the way he had been stroking his hair. It was the same possessiveness he had felt from Grace Hopkins. Almost like he was a doll that one could make behave like one wanted. He couldn't repress a shiver.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Roy asked. He hadn't failed to notice his subordinate's strange behaviour.

"Yeah."

"Because you don't look like it."

"It's nothing."

Roy sighed. "Fullmetal, we're stuck in this together for god knows how long, it's easier if you just say it."

"I guess he just reminds me of his sister."

"In what way?"

"She too treated me like I was their possession. When she was torturing me she kept saying "my dear," while cupping my cheek in a caring fashion, and it creeped me out that's all."

Roy clenched his fists. He hadn't known about that. Of course Fullmetal would be reminded of the hell he'd been subjected to in Amsel. Roy was getting pissed off with these siblings. Amsel was supposed to be a once in a lifetime thing, and preferably not even that often. Roy was frankly surprised by Fullmetal's reaction to the event, most people would have to go through some sort of therapy after a thing like that, especially someone who was as young as Fullmetal was. Although it made things easier, practically speaking, it still saddened Roy a bit that the kid wasn't that traumatised by it, because he had such horrors in his pasts.

Roy hated this. He hated being forced to participate in this. He hated the way that man knew things so that they couldn't defend themselves, couldn't stop him from playing with them. He just wished he would be able to protect Fullmetal when he needed it. Because god knew it had been a fiasco in Amsel although they had stopped the killer. Maybe the Fuhrer saw it as a win, but Roy didn't as long as it involved one of his subordinates being tortured for thirty-six hours straight. Especially when the subordinate in question was a thirteen-year-old child.

No, Roy was going to have to stay close to Fullmetal until this was over and done with and Charles Hopkins was a charred corpse.

"Fullmetal?"

"Yes?"

"Promise that you won't go off on your own until that man is dead."

"Uh, okay?"

The kid was obviously confused by his concern, but it didn't matter. Roy wasn't going to let that man get his hands on his subordinate. Roy had of course also noticed the possessiveness in Charles Hopkins' voice, and it reminded him all too much of when he'd read Grace Hopkins' diary.

"When are we going to leave here?"

"I'd say we should return to my house after five days. That gives us some time should Charles decide to change his mind and begin things early."

"Sounds like a plan."

Roy couldn't help but notice the way the kid was avoiding the elephant in the room.

"Anthony looked like he was doing well, considering," Roy said and sighed.

"Yeah. He hasn't been hurt, and he seems to be getting enough food too."

"I guess he sees that we are more compliant when we know that he isn't being hurt. He doesn't want to torture **you**, after all."

"You, on the other hand, seems to be fair game."

"Yes, but he did still shoot you with an arrow."

"Yeah, cos that's really easy to forget," he said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, and then an idea seemed to come to him. "Hey, Colonel, the files on Grace Hopkins, did they say anything about her having a brother?"

"No. That's what's odd about this. Something's wrong about it all."

"Wouldn't it be easy for someone to remove a medical record stating someone's birth if you had access to them as a doctor?"

"I guess so. Are you thinking that Charles is working as a doctor?"

"It would make sense. That's the reason he could sneak in and out of the hospital without anybody thinking it was odd."

"Maybe, it could also explain how he has so much information. People trust doctors by nature."

"The problem is that even knowing that brings us no closer to saving Anthony!"

* * *

And so the next few days passed in growing annoyance and grumbling.

"Good morning, Mr. Elric. Time to wash your hair again!" a nurse said to him cheerfully, bringing a wheelchair into the room.

Ed gently got into the wheelchair. He hated having to be pushed around everywhere in that thing, but he accepted it, just to up his chances of leaving the hospital the day after.

"So, how are you feeling today?"

"I'm very fine, thank you." Ed was being disgusted by his own fake cheerfulness, but he wanted to make the nurses think that he was settling in in the hospital.

They reached the hallway outside of the shower room, when a nurse suddenly ran out, grabbing Ed's nurse by the hand.

"Molly, thank god! It's a nightmare, somebody has put something in the milk bottles in the kitchen and there's about fifteen people with serious stomach issues, and I need you to help me!"

"Oh my! Will you be okay with waiting here for a while, Mr. Elric?"

"Uh, sure." Ed had a bad feeling about this, but was at least thankful that he refused to drink his milk.

Five minutes later, someone came walking up behind him. Ed recognised him a second too late, and had a needle plunged into his neck. He felt his body grow limp, and he couldn't do much more than stare wide-eyed ahead of him as his body tilted sideways in his seat.

"Hello, Edward, dear. It's so good to see you again," a familiar voice told him. "I just had to check up on my golden boy, after all. Let's move somewhere more private."

He pushed Ed into a room, flicking the switch next to the door to make sure that the light above the door said that the room was occupied.

He then pulled a chair up right in front of Ed and sat down.

"Finally I am able to get a good look at you, dear boy." He grabbed Ed's shoulders, straightening him up, before he placed a hand under his chin, tilting his head from side to side, taking in each and every one of his features.

"Oh, I am looking so much forward to adding you to my collection Edward, you truly are special. But I just need to finish punishing you for contributing to my sister's death. So soon, Edward, soon you will be mine. My golden boy. Soon."

Ed was quite frankly panicking inside his numb body. Ed was completely at this maniac's mercy right now. He was frightened by that hungry look in his eyes. No, the Colonel was right, this man was not attracted to him, he was looking at him the way Ed would look if he suddenly found a Philosopher's Stone.

_And he wants to add me to his "collection"? What the hell does that even mean?_

The man was stroking his cheek, and Ed felt absolutely terrified. This man was insane, completely insane, and he wanted Ed. He suddenly understood the Colonel's concern from earlier. No, he would go with the "strength in numbers" alternative.

Ed could feel some of the numbness leaving his body, and Charles wheeled him out of the room.

As he tried to lift his head on his own, Charles gripped the outsides of his arms, righting him, before he leant down and whispered into his ear. "I'll be seeing you, Edward. Remember, the game recommences in three days."

Then he left him frozen in the wheelchair in the same hallway that the nurse had originally left him in, leaving no trace that he had ever been there.

Ed didn't do anything but smile understandingly as Molly returned apologising to him ten minutes later. She washed his hair thoroughly, brushed it and let it hang over his shoulders to dry.

The minute she left the room after Ed was back in bed, he turned towards Mustang.

"We need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we are, chapter five, which I guess can be seen as a bit of a calm before the storm...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And once again, THANK YOU to all of you wonderful people who have read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story, you guys keep me smiling through the whole day (and I've been having chronic migraines for two years now, so that means a lot to me!)**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Roy had started to worry as the minutes stretched out, and the usual fifteen minutes turned to forty.

He had seen that something was seriously wrong the moment he had seen Fullmetal's face. Waiting for the nurse to leave was tantamount to torture, acting as though everything was as it should be when it obviously wasn't. These nurses had to be gullible fools not to notice the way Fullmetal was tense and obviously terrified.

He was incredibly relieved when the nurse finally left the room, and Fullmetal turned towards him.

"We need to talk."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Charles."

"He was here?! Are you alright, did he do anything?" Roy was alarmed as hell as his suspicions were confirmed.

"He just wanted to have a proper look at me."

"What do you mean?"

"He jabbed a needle into my neck and suddenly I couldn't feel my body. Then hen took me into a room and started examining my face. Once he was done he just pushed me back to where the nurse had left me, as though nothing had happened."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he wasn't done punishing me for contributing to his sister's death, but when he has done that, he is going to add me to his "collection". He kept saying that it would be soon."

Roy was furious. The man was toying with them, trying to scare them. And he was obviously planning to take Fullmetal.

"You're not going anywhere on your own from now on, okay?" Roy asked. He could tell by the look on the kid's face that he was scared by all this. And Roy had to admit that the thought of someone like that adding Fullmetal to their "collection" terrified him.

Fullmetal nodded. "Could we go home today, you think?"

"It's not really a good idea, but I'm in."

"Then let's go."

Roy stood up as Fullmetal found his regular clothes folded neatly on a chair. He walked slowly, the movement was obviously causing him a great deal of pain. Roy went over to him, his back may be aching, but it wasn't as bad as a fucking arrow wound. Fullmetal looked curiously up at him.

"What?"

"You're going to need some help, you could rip that wound open again otherwise."

Fullmetal just grunted and Roy helped him change his trousers and swap the hospital shirt for his black tank top and jacket, as well as his trademark red coat. Fullmetal had managed to convince the nurses not to throw them away, as he could fix them using alchemy. Moving his arms caused Roy to bite down on his lip as his back was screaming in protest at the continued movement, but he ignored it. He swapped the turquoise hospital clothes for his uniform and then threw on his black coat. Except for the bags under their eyes and the slight bruise on Fullmetal's right cheek, as well as the fact that the kid's hair was hanging loosely down his back, they looked pretty normal.

They made their way slowly through the hospital, keeping their heads down. It was obviously quite painful for the kid, and he limped slightly.

"Colonel Mustang, what exactly do you think that you're doing?" a voice called from behind them. Roy turned around and was met with the stern face of Dr. Samuels.

Of course they just had to run into the man who had given him hell for sneaking Fullmetal out of the hospital the first time.

"We're leaving."

"What do you mean?! You shouldn't even be out of bed! None of you! Especially your subordinate!"

"Take it up with the Fuhrer."

"You know what? I have half a mind to do so."

"I wouldn't really recommend that, he might be inclined to see it as treason."

The man sputtered. Roy felt an immense pleasure at seeing this after the earful the man had given him almost daily now.

"But still, think of Mr. Elric's health!"

"I'll be fine," the kid said.

And with that they left the hospital laughing on the inside.

* * *

There was just one little issue, Roy's car was still at the graveyard.

And his house was a thirty-minute walk away from the hospital.

Which meant an hour with Fullmetal's pace.

_Shit._

"Colonel?"

"My house is about an hour away, I guess we'll just have to start walking. You can lean on me if you need to."

"I'm good."

And so they started walking.

Fullmetal's limp became quite pronounced after about twenty minutes, and the continued movement was obviously causing him a lot of pain as he had stopped talking and was just biting down on his lip. Roy knew the kid was too stubborn to ask for assistance.

"Fullmetal, you need some help."

"No, I'm fine."

Roy put his right arm under the stubborn kid's.

"I said I'm fine!"

"Which is why I am now ordering you to accept my help. Now put your left hand on my shoulder so that we can relieve some of the strain on your wound."

The kid grumbled, but did as he was told.

"Good, we still have about forty minutes to go."

This of course, put a much larger strain on Roy's back, but he didn't really care. Fullmetal was a child in significantly more pain than him with a more serious injury, as well as his subordinate. Roy wasn't going to have him collapse on him.

_God knows the kid has been through enough pain already._

"Excuse me, Officer, but do you need some help?" a woman asked him, obviously noticing the pained look on Fullmetal's face.

"No, it's fine, this is the Fullmetal Alchemist, I'm getting him some help."

"Oh, okay, Sir." The woman walked away.

The kid started leaning more and more heavily on Roy as the minutes went by. He stumbled when they were ten minutes away.

"Fullmetal? Are you okay?"

Which was when a small drop of blood came down from the bottom edge of his tank top, landing on the pavement beneath his feet.

"Ah, it opened again, then," the kid stated exhaustedly.

_Damn that kid for always wearing his black and red._

Roy stopped walking, as did Fullmetal. He sighed and picked him up, his right hand behind the kid's back, the left under his knees. Roy bit back a curse as his back began throbbing with pain.

"Colonel! I can walk on my own! Put me down!"

"I'm not going to have you bleed to death, just use your coat to put pressure on your wound."

The kid did as he was ordered.

They reached Roy's house ten minutes later. He was alarmed when he found the door to be unlocked. He slowly opened it, and the first thing he saw as he came inside, was a note taped to the wall.

_Sorry about breaking in, Robbie-Boy, but I just wanted to remove your ignition gloves so that you don't decide to do anything stupid._

Roy and Fullmetal cursed simultaneously, although Roy noticed that the kid's rant was a lot weaker than usual.

He carried him into the living room, laying him down on the couch, before running upstairs to the bathroom to wash his hands and get the first aid kit and some towels. He came back downstairs and kneeled down in front of the boy. He removed the coat and the tank top, revealing that the stitches had indeed been ripped open.

Roy put a towel to Fullmetal's wound before he removed the torn stitches, receiving a few pained grunts from the kid. He then set to work with the needle and thread, apologising as he pushed the little needle through the skin. The kid whimpered repeatedly, and Roy was quite frankly relieved that he at least wasn't screaming.

Roy then pushed the towel against the wound before he went into the kitchen to wash his hands. He felt quite sick with the thought that all this red came from a fucking child. He took a deep breath and returned to the living room. There he grabbed the bottle of antiseptic and poured some of it onto a cotton pad, and began cleaning the wound. He then grabbed a bowl in the kitchen and filled it with lukewarm water in order to clean the rest of the kid's stomach. He dipped the towel into the water and started washing off the blood. Fullmetal kept grunting in pain. Roy grabbed another cotton pad with antiseptic and cleaned the wound one more time, then he sat Fullmetal up in a sitting position and pressed a compress against the wound on both sides and started twisting a thick layer of bandages around his stomach.

"Right, we're done."

"Great, thanks."

"Well, I'm going to put these clothes in the laundry, and then we're going to find you something else to wear."

"Thanks."

Roy threw the bloodied clothes in the laundry basket, then he went upstairs to the loft. There was no way any of the things in his wardrobe was going to fit the kid, and so he was going to search through one of the old boxes of clothes from his childhood. He climbed the staircase and turned on the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. He found what he was looking for after a few minutes of searching. The box contained a lot of things he guessed Fullmetal wouldn't want to wear, but after a while he settled on a pair of black sweatpants and a light blue T-shirt. He went back downstairs and found the kid sleeping on the couch at an odd angle, seeing as how he had slid sideways down on the couch, but his feet had stayed on the ground. Roy went over to the sleeping form and gently shook his shoulder. There was no response. He kept shaking his shoulder, calling his name until he finally got a grunt in reply and a couple of tired, golden eyes stared blearily up at him.

"Hey, Fullmetal, you can't sleep here. You need to get a change of clothes and then we'll set you up in the guest room."

"Uh-huh. Sounds good." He sat back up, whimpering at the pain in his side.

Roy handed him the clothes. "Do these look good enough for you?"

"I guess, where did they come from?"

"I had a box of old childhood clothes."

"Oh."

"Let's get you to the bathroom so we can get you changed." He then carried the kid again, which wasn't as easy now that he had to manoeuvre him up the stairs.

He helped him change into the new clothes and then prepared the spare bedroom, and so he lay the sleepy kid down on the bed before pulling the covers over him.

"Thanks, Colonel," he muttered, clutching the covers before he swiftly fell asleep.

"No problem," Roy answered as he flicked the light-switch, but left the door open just in case something should happen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay! Two in one day! And so here we are, chapter six!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And thank you so much to every reader, follower, favouriter and reviewer! You guys are more inspiring than you know!**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

The next two days were some of the weirdest Ed had ever had.

Because how was he supposed to react to living in the same house as someone who usually was the world's most useless, annoying bastard, when he wasn't actually acting like a bastard for once? One thing had been back in Amsel when Mustang had had Hawkeye there as a babysitter, but now? And Ed was reliant on him to help him get up and down the stairs and to get dressed unless he wanted to be in considerable pain. Ed was of course adamant on washing himself on his own, and pulling on his boxers, and Mustang didn't seem to have any problems with that.

Although Ed had to say, he did still fight the urge to knock the Colonel on the head as he helped him pull on his socks.

The first day was the worst, though, as Mustang's kitchen was completely devoid of edible food. That left them with a bit of a dilemma. Ed had woken up after four hours of sleep, and they were now faced with the horrible prospect of walking to the grocery store and back. They were not willing to split up, not even for half an hour, not with that psycho probably watching their every move. And it also seemed that the Colonel was unwilling to leave him because it would create the perfect opportunity for Charles to come and grab Edward, which wasn't really a cheerful prospect either.

Ed was slightly confused by this new protective side of the Colonel, but part of him was actually appreciating his concern as it slightly helped him in fighting the strangled feeling that was creeping up on him every time he thought about Charles.

So they had ended up walking slowly to buy the groceries, Ed leaning heavily on Mustang to put as little strain as possible on his wound. Ed had got many funny looks in the store, seeing as how he was obviously not in any shape to go shopping, as well as the fact that his automail arm was exposed as he was only wearing a T-shirt. Thankfully they had been looking so strange that people didn't dare question them.

And so they had managed to sort of settle in in Mustang's house.

Then came the day that "the game" was supposed to resume on.

They were tense the whole time, waiting for a phone call, a letter anything.

But nothing came.

Then, as the clock said that it was one minute until midnight, the phone suddenly rang.

Mustang started and ran for the phone.

"Hello…Are you doing alright?...I'm listening…Listen, we will help y-…DAMN IT!" He threw the receiver down.

"What happened?" Ed was alarmed.

"The bastard cut off the call."

Ed breathed out in relief, it could have been much worse than that. "How's Anthony?"

"The same as last time."

"I guess that's good. What did he say?"

"He told us to go and collect my car."

"What? Why?"

"He didn't say."

"Did he give us a time limit?"

"Noon tomorrow."

"And how long would you guess it would take for us to reach it?"

"About three hours."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"He said we both had to go."

"Then I'm gonna need some stuff in order to transmute a wheelchair."

Ed made a list, and together they went out in the middle of the night to collect metal scraps, some wood, an old couch pillow as well as the spare tyre in Mustang's garage.

* * *

All in all, Ed thought he had created one hell of a wheelchair.

Mustang, however, didn't.

"_That_, Fullmetal, is an abomination."

"How?"

"Armrests are not supposed to look like dragons."

"Come on, it's only adding a bit of décor."

"There are spikes coming out of the sides of the wheels."

"So what? It's not like they're big enough to hurt anyone!"

"And they have evil-looking eyes."

"That's cool as hell!"

"And it's red."

"How is that the biggest of your problems?"

"Fullmetal, it's supposed to be inconspicuous."

"I'm not sitting in a boring wheelchair for three hours."

"Well, I don't want to be seen pushing a thing like _that_."

In the end they ended up with a compromise, Ed removed the dragons and the spikes, but got to keep the eyes and the red colour.

Ed sat down in it at Mustang pushed him the all the way back home. It was much nicer on his injury to be sitting down rather than walking on his own. When they got back, they agreed to go to bed and begin their day at six o'clock.

* * *

Roy definitely had the hardest job that day, but he didn't complain as he pushed Fullmetal up the third steep hill for the last half hour. The sun was boiling his back which was already screaming from the strain. He wasn't going to complain, because if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that Fullmetal would rather be walking than being pushed around. He was not going to trigger a reaction from him that made him start walking on his own, which would be bad as there was at least two hours left.

The kid was impatiently tapping his fingers on the armrest. "How's your back, Colonel?"

"Uncomfortable."

"I could try walking for a while…"

"No. I am ordering you as your commanding officer to stay in that wheelchair. The last thing we need right now is for you to reopen your wound."

The kid mumbled a string of curses.

And so the trip went. Fullmetal kept making suggestions about how he could walk for five minutes, sit for five minutes, how he could walk while leaning on the wheelchair, every single thing he could think of, but Roy didn't change his mind. Fullmetal was furious by the time they finally reached the car, and he shot out of the wheelchair the minute the car was in sight. Roy had to say that he was starting to get how this kid managed to recover from automail surgery in just a year. He was stubborn as hell.

"Fullmetal! You shouldn't walk!"

"Screw that! It's only a few metres!" The kid limped his way over to the car, although Roy quickly caught up with him, he wasn't keeping a very fast pace.

Roy went over to the driver's side, finding an envelope fastened to the windshield wiper. He ripped it open.

_There's no need for such gloom,_

_The game will resume._

_Now what you will do,_

_Is travel to Amsel, you two._

_Meet me by my sister's grave._

_And do make sure that you two behave._

Roy handed the letter to Fullmetal with a sigh.

"I think he's getting serious, now he's just giving orders, not riddles. I don't think anything good will happen in Amsel," Roy told him when he had read the letter.

"Yeah, and meeting him by his sister's grave sounds quite ominous." He crumpled the paper. "But we have to go. Anthony's depending on us!"

They got into the car, Fullmetal wincing as he pulled the door closed. He was back in his usual clothes now that they were free of blood. Roy had gone with civilian ones, wearing a white shirt and dark grey trousers. None of them looked like they had suffered life threatening injuries within the last week.

They drove in silence, none of them knowing what to say anymore. None of them knowing what was to come. Hell, Roy wasn't really sure that he was going to be _alive_ at the end of the day.

Then they were there. They drove through the slight familiarity of Amsel, reaching the graveyard where Grace Hopkins was buried. Roy knew the route, he had already been there to say a few choice words to the coffin as it was lowered into the ground.

You did not hurt any of his subordinates without getting what you deserved.

Roy lifted the wheelchair out of the trunk and ordered Fullmetal to sit down in it. They then made their way through the rows upon rows of gravestones until they finally reached the one they were looking for.

They stood there for about fifteen minutes of absolutely nothing.

Then a shot pierced the silence.

And lodged itself in Roy's left knee.

He yelled as he fell to his side, gripping his bleeding leg.

"Colonel!" Fullmetal stood up and kneeled beside him, instantly throwing off his red coat and using it to stem the flow of blood. The movement was obviously causing the kid pain, and Roy could see the panic rising in his eyes.

Then suddenly there was a person behind Fullmetal, holding a kitchen knife against his throat, bringing his head back by pulling his ponytail.

"Hello again, my dear boy." Charles stabbed the knife hard into Fullmetal's left shoulder, making the kid scream.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Roy shouted.

Charles didn't even spare him a glance. "You feel it, don't you Edward? Your blood is sending the drug right through your body… It's my own special concoction, very effective in paralysing the body from the neck down…" He threw him sideway to the ground, right next to Roy.

Roy instinctively pulled the kid to him, trying to shield him from any further harm.

"Oh, there's no point, Roy, I won't do anything more to him for now. I just can't have him use his alchemy, that's all. Now I suggest you prevent him from bleeding out."

"What the hell are you going to do to us!?" Roy said furiously as he threw off his shirt to press it against Fullmetal's shoulder. His own knee was throbbing excruciatingly, but at least the bullet was stopping some of the blood. Fullmetal, on the other hand, was completely helpless. And the bastard had ripped the blade out none to cleanly. "Listen, Edward, it's going to be okay, I swear."

Charles stomped down on Roy's injured knee, making him scream out in agony.

"What have I said about language, Roy?!"

"YOU BASTARD!" Fullmetal shouted.

Roy was suddenly thrown away from the boy, and Charles was instead stomping down on Fullmetal's bleeding shoulder, making him scream again.

"As you can tell, Edward, the drug may paralyse you, but it does **not** make you impervious to pain." Charles stepped away from him, gesturing for Roy to continue his first aid attempts.

"And now that I have your attention: Anthony, dear! You are free to go, you have done so well!"

Roy turned around, looking at the frightened boy.

"Come on, now! Off you pop! Thank you for all your help! You're allowed to call the police, the military, anyone, nobody is going to find us until I say so anyway! But if you don't run now, I'll put another bullet in Roy's leg!"

Anthony ran.

Roy didn't blame the kid.

"And now, the fun is about to start, because the winner of the game was me," Charles said, turning back towards them. "Which means that I get to choose my prize."

He grinned at them both.

* * *

**Aaaaand there's the beginning of the storm...**

**See you again tomorrow!**

**I'll be posting the minute the next chapter is ready as usual, so until then, sorry about the cliffhanger!**


	7. Chapter 7

**So, here we are, chapter seven... And I'm so sorry for torturing Ed and Roy, I truly am...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And thank you everyone for your continued support! Thank you to every reader, reviewer, follower and favouriter, you guys are an amazing and wonderful bunch of people!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

"So, Roy, I suggest you get the Golden Boy into his wheelchair, I'd rather not get any blood on these clothes."

_Fuck you, you bastard! I am going to burn you slowly the moment I get the chance!_

Roy wasn't going to be able to do this without using his injured leg, but Charles was now pointing his gun not at him, but at Fullmetal.

He somehow managed to drag the terrified child over to his wheelchair. He then made a split moment decision and sat himself up into the wheelchair, pulling Fullmetal up on his lap, instantly starting to apply pressure on his bleeding shoulder.

"Roy, you impress me, that was a very good idea, now my dear Edward doesn't have to bleed more than necessary, so I'm going to allow this."

Fullmetal was hissing with pain, obviously not wanting to seem weak in front of this madman. The pained tears in the corners of his eyes were giving him away, however.

Charles began pushing the wheelchair towards a brown truck. The movement almost caused Fullmetal to fall off Roy's lap, and so he pulled him closer towards him, still applying pressure to his shoulder.

"What do we do now, Colonel?" the kid whispered with a whimper.

"I don't know, but we'll get out of this, you have my word. And he's not using Anthony against us anymore," Roy whispered back.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let him sneak up on me like that."

"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault, he would just have used Anthony against you otherwise."

Charles stopped the wheelchair just outside the back of the truck, opening the double doors wide before he pushed the wheelchair right up to the opening.

"Now Roy, please get Edward and yourself inside the truck."

Roy barely managed to stand up because of his leg, and he ended up with basically throwing himself and Fullmetal sideways into the truck. He then pushed Fullmetal completely inside before he pulled himself in too. Before he knew what had happened, Charles had slammed the double doors shut behind them, throwing them into darkness. Knowing that they had little time before the truck started moving, Roy removed Fullmetal's black jacket swiftly before he pressed it agains his shoulder, earning a few whimpers from the kid.

Hearing Charles starting the truck, Roy lay down on his stomach, keeping his right arm over Fullmetal's chest, pressing the jacket against the wound. It probably wasn't a good idea to forget about his own wound right now, but he couldn't really do much about it, so he just pushed his right knee against it, hoping to stem the flow as he bit back a scream.

_Damn this! Charles Hopkins, I swear I am going to kill you!_

"Colonel, how's your leg?"

"Bleeding."

"Oh."

"How are you doing?"

"I can't move and my shoulder's hurting like hell."

Roy couldn't really imagine what the kid must be going through, Roy was scared as hell by this, but at least he was actually able to move.

If they weren't surrounded by total darkness, he might be able to make a transmutation circle with the blood, but doing it without seeing what he was doing, could turn disastrous. And there wouldn't really be a point, because anything he might do to escape, would probably make it very easy Charles to come after them. Roy couldn't really walk and Fullmetal couldn't move at all. Anything that he might do that would kill Charles, would end up putting his and Fullmetal's lives at risk too.

Charles made a sharp turn and so the two of them began rolling to the left. Roy crashed against the side of the truck, and a moment later, Fullmetal crashed into him. The kid yelped. Roy was still holding the jacket in his hand, and he clutched Fullmetal to him, the jacket still pressed against the kid's wounded shoulder.

"Listen, Edward, I'm not going to let him get away with this."

"I hope so."

Roy pulled him closer to his chest, hoping to bring at least some sort of comfort in this hellish situation. Fullmetal was still a child after all.

* * *

Ed didn't know how long he lay there being held close to Mustang's chest. An annoyingly large part of him actually found some comfort in it.

Ed was feeling dizzy and light-headed. Recognising the symptoms of blood loss, Ed was thankful that the Colonel had acted so quickly with putting pressure on his shoulder, otherwise he'd probably have bled out already.

But still, this made him feel ridiculously weak. He was unable to move and he was being hugged by his commanding officer like he was just some stupid child, and part of him was actually _appreciating_ it. His shoulder hurt like hell, and Mustang was basically the only thing keeping him alive at the moment.

The truck suddenly stopped. There was a few seconds of anxious waiting, and then both doors were flung open. Ed was blinded by the light, they had been lying there in complete darkness for at least an hour.

"Hello, my dear Edward. I see Roy has been a good boy and has kept you alive for me. I appreciate that greatly. I'll reward you for that later on. I'll be back soon, I'm just going to change into some more proper clothing. Until then, ta-ta!"

And then he slammed the doors shut.

Ed was unnerved by how he seemed so much more theatrical as he came closer and closer to whatever he was planning to do with them. It made it even harder to place him and to predict his reactions.

"Colonel?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't leave me alone with him." Ed had said the words before he had thought them through, it was just a scared, childish impulse, and he had let it slip before he could stop himself. He was mentally kicking himself. He wasn't that weak.

Mustang hugged him closer. "I won't."

Which was when Ed realised that his commanding officer was just as scared as he was.

They lay there for about ten minutes, until the doors were flung open again.

And then Charles was pulling Ed out by his legs.

"NO! GET OFF!"

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!"

"No need to get so worked up, you two, I'm only helping with getting dear Edward out of the truck."

Ed was suddenly dumped to the gravel outside.

"And now you, Roy, out you come!"

Ed heard some pained grunts, and then he spotted his superior's head peeking out above him, before Charles grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him down to the ground, earning a pained yell from both prisoners as they collided.

Mustang got off him and he sat up, bringing Ed up with him and holding him protectively against his chest again. He was holding Ed's head so that he was facing away from the madman and was instead having his vision filled by Mustang's bloodstained undershirt.

"My, my, it's good to see that you are taking care if my dear Golden Boy, it makes it easier for me. You know what, I'll make that your reward! I'm going to let you patch yourselves up without my help, how does that sound?"

Mustang didn't say anything, and suddenly Charles shot forward, digging his nails into Ed's shoulder, earning a scream from him. He didn't let go, however, but kept pressing his fingers inside the wound. It was absolute agony. "**I asked you what you thought, Roy. Now kindly answer.**"

"**Damn you! Yes, it sounds good!**" Mustang shouted as Ed kept screaming into his chest.

The pressure wasn't removed however, but only increased. Ed was sure the man must have thrust his fingers at least an inch inside the wound by now. Ed couldn't stop himself from screaming, it hurt so incredibly much.

"_Language_, Roy! Now apologise!" Charles growled, squeezing Ed's shoulder so that his screams rose a pitch.

"FINE! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! NOW LET HIM GO!"

Charles removed his fingers, making a sickening squelching sound as they came out of Ed's skin. Ed was barely able to stop himself from outright sobbing into Mustang's chest by now. The arms around him tightened, one of them stroking his back soothingly, which was the last straw, and Ed could no longer stop the flow of pained tears coming from his eyes, but at least they were silent ones.

_Damn this! Damn this!_

"Good, Roy! Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Charles said from somewhere behind Ed. "Now, Roy, please do your little wheelchair trick again, and we can bring the two of you inside."

Mustang gently put Ed back down on the ground, and about twenty seconds later, Ed was hoisted up on his lap again, biting back a yell as the movement sent another set of excruciating pain through his throbbing shoulder.

Mustang held him close to his chest again, stroking his back, but right now Ed was in so much pain and was so scared that he didn't care how childish it felt. He was thankful for at least having someone with him this time. He had been all alone with Grace Hopkins, and god knows it was good to actually have someone tell him that things were going to be alright.

They were pushed inside what Ed guessed was an old stable, but instead of stalls, there were four small prison cells. The whole place smelled of decay and blood. One of the cell doors was opened, and Charles pushed them inside.

"Here you go, your new home! As you can see, I've even installed a toilet in the corner, so you should have all you need. Now, Roy, kindly get the pair of you out of the wheelchair, and I'll let you patch up your wounds. Dear Edward is looking frightfully pale, so I suggest you do it quickly."

Ed felt himself being lowered to the ground gently, but he still couldn't fight back the whimper escaping his lips.

Mustang then collapsed next to him, once again pressing his hands against Ed's shoulder. Ed didn't like the paleness in the Colonel's face, he had hardly tended to his leg for the whole journey.

Charles returned with a first aid kit, a bowl of water, three towels, a lighter and a giant spoon.

"Now Roy, I suggest you cauterise dear Edward's shoulder, I would guess you know how to do so? I couldn't exactly give you a knife, so I figured that that would do the trick too." He pointed towards the spoon. He then closed the door behind him, locking it.

Ed was lying there looking up at Mustang, they were both scared as hell. Then Mustang set to work. He heated the metal with the flame from the lighter. "I'm sorry," he said.

Then he pressed it against Ed's shoulder.

Ed couldn't help but scream.

* * *

**I hope I'm doing alright with the torture part, this is only the second time I write torture...**

**I hope to be able to post another chapter today, as it is only 13.10 here in Norway as I write this.**

**Until then, as Charles would say "Ta-ta!"**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, here's chapter eight, and I'm ****sorry, but it another cliffhanger...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, and Ed would probably have killed me by now if I did...**

**And thank you so much to the people who are reading, following, favouriting and reviewing! You make the rocking world go round! (Kudos if you get that reference!)**

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

Roy felt sick. Absolutely sick.

He had sworn to himself that he wouldn't burn another child after Ishbal.

And this was his thirteen-year-old subordinate.

And the kid couldn't even move. Couldn't protest.

All he could do was _scream_.

Scream as Roy burned his flesh with a fucking spoon.

It felt like hours, though it was only seconds.

Then it was over and he threw the goddamn object as far away from him as he could. It flew through the iron bars, but Roy didn't care. He picked up the silently crying child in front of him and pressed Ed's face against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks for your help," Fullmetal said hoarsely, which made it so much worse.

"Goodie-good, Roy, now please tend to your leg and so we can get on with our schedule."

Roy bit back a curse as he gently laid Fullmetal down on the floor, and moved on to tend to his own wound. It was excruciating to just move his leg into a position where he could actually access the wound. He gripped the first aid kit, and cut out a hole in the trouser leg so that he could actually see what he was doing. He dabbed away some of the blood with one of the towels, then he grabbed a compress, rolled it up and bit down on it as he grabbed the surgical-standard tongs and began digging through the wound in order to remove the bullet. He screamed into the compress. After about thirty excruciating seconds he finally found the object and removed it. He pressed the towel against the wound, fighting the urge to pass out.

After about a minute, he grabbed the needle and thread, and began stitching the wound closed, grunting with pain. Then he grabbed a compress, pressed it against the wound and began bandaging it.

And so he lay back on the ground and spat out the compress. He just lay there, panting, trying to catch his breath.

"Colonel? Are you done?" Fullmetal of course, hadn't been able to see what Roy had been doing and had only heard his screams and yells of pain.

He turned his head towards him. "Yes, I'm done."

"Impressive, Roy, I was sure you were going to pass out. Now please get Edward cleaned up, so we can get on with this," Charles said, obviously enjoying this.

Roy grunted and sat back up. He grabbed the bowl of water and a clean towel, and began cleaning Fullmetal's shoulder and chest. He had removed the black tank top before he had cauterised his shoulder, and the small body was covered with the crimson liquid. The kid hissed with pain as he got close to the newly closed up wound.

Then Charles opened the door and sat down on the floor in front of them, grinning as he brandished his gun and plunked a toolbox down next to him. "How nice, you've been a good boy, Roy, really good."

Roy pulled Fullmetal away from the man and pushed him behind himself in order to shield him at least a bit.

"Oh, come on now, Roy, there's no point in doing that, when I want to punish you, I will. When I want to punish Edward, I will do so too. Don't even try to think otherwise. I'm actually being really nice to let you two stay here in the same cell."

"So you want us to be grateful for the fact that you kidnapped and tortured us?!" Fullmetal said from behind him.

"Oh, Edward, dear, you have completely misunderstood what is going on here. This is not a kidnapping, this is me claiming what is rightfully mine. You two are my prize for winning the game."

"And how did you win, exactly?" Roy inquired.

"Don't you see? It was my game, I was the player who managed to completely control you two! It was a game of manipulation, and I won it!" He laughed gleefully. "Anthony was going to be your prize if you won, but you didn't, and I didn't need him anymore, so I let him go. I was being very nice to you, Edward! You should thank me!"

"Thank you? The hell I will!"

Charles grabbed the gun and the next second he had shot Fullmetal in the right thigh.

The kid yelled behind Roy's back.

"What have I said about swearing!" Charles gestured with his gun between the first aid kit and Fullmetal. "Go on Roy, fix him up!"

Roy immediately went to work, and five minutes later he had a silently crying Fullmetal pressed against his chest, inwardly cursing Charles Hopkins in every way imaginable.

"Now, are we finally going to behave civilised here?" Charles asked exasperatedly.

Having learnt Charles' lesson, Roy gave a stiff nod, hating the fact that he was complying with this madman's wishes, but he was afraid of what he was otherwise going to do to the kid.

"Good. Now, as I was saying, I am only claiming my prize. This isn't a kidnapping, and it never was. You two played the game, and you lost, simple as that. Now, Roy, usually I would only add truly beautiful beings to my collection, but you are a special case. You and Edward are the reason that my sister's dead, which means I can never feel truly fulfilled if I just add my Golden Boy to my collection. I am therefore making an exception in both your cases. You both suffer when the other one does, which means that I cannot collect Edward, as I need him alive. And so you two will start a new collection. A very special one. Are you following?"

Roy gave another stiff nod. Judging from what Charles was saying, he hadn't been far off with his taxidermy joke after all. He barely repressed a shiver.

"Usually I keep my exhibits for a few weeks, some I let stay in these exhibition cages and remove them once the smell becomes too bad. Others need some prompting to achieve their true beauty, they often last for a bit longer. The ones that are truly special, they are preserved. Edward was one of those few. But what I am going to do, is keep you two here for a long, long time. I will be able to see the Golden Boy every day, it will be wonderful! And I will see both of you suffer for what you did to my sister."

Roy felt sick. Taxidermy was actually completely right. Fullmetal might have dodged a bullet there. Or he had just opened the gates to hell.

"You two don't know that, but my sister was so happy that day. She rang me, telling me the most amazing boy had landed in her lap. I don't think she has ever been so delighted. She was actually crying on the phone out of pure happiness. You have such a beautiful song, Edward, I really wish I could hear it. You were supposed to be her crowning achievement. Instead, she lost her life because of you and your commanding officer here. There is no way you can repay me for what you did. No apology is enough, no amount of money. NOTHING!"

He suddenly sprang forward, a hammer in hand, grabbing Roy's left hand, pushing it to the floor and smashed the hammer twice against it, breaking it.

Roy yelled in pain, but Charles didn't stop there. Fullmetal had lost his support and rolled off Roy's lap. Charles grabbed his hand too, giving it the same treatment, although the kid was prepared this time, and managed to only grunt angrily as there was a loud crack from his small hand. It must have hurt him much more than it did Roy, as Roy's hands were considerably larger. Roy glared angrily at Charles, lifting Fullmetal back into his arms, ignoring the screaming pain from his hand, trying to ignore the blood that was flowing from the middle of it.

Fullmetal's, however, was far less easy to ignore, as Charles had obviously been aiming more in his case and had struck it in two separate places to deal as much damage as possible. It was bleeding in two places, and bones had obviously been shifted inside of it.

"Right, lost my temper there." Charles put the hammer back in the toolbox and stood in front of them. "Well, Roy, the drug is probably going to stop working within the next hour, so I am just going to remove Edward's automail, just to be safe. You are allowed to hold on to him, but if you do anything stupid, I'll break your other hand as well as Edward's remaining foot, are we clear?"

Roy nodded. He couldn't bring himself to comply in a verbal form, it felt so much more like giving in.

Charles moved forward with the toolbox, and Roy kept Fullmetal close as Charles removed the kid's automail.

"You know, Edward, dear. You are very lucky that I am a doctor. I have had many patients with automail and I know how to do this properly. Think of how much pain I could accidentally cause you if I happened to turn the wrench the wrong way."

Roy felt the kid tense, and couldn't blame him. Charles removed Fullmetal's trousers, leaving the kid only in his boxers. Roy was reminded heavily of finding Fullmetal strapped to the table in the abandoned morgue where Grace had tortured him and left him in an even worse state than he was in now.

Both of them kept quiet during the twenty minutes that Charles worked on removing the automail. Thankfully, he didn't do anything that hurt Fullmetal, and soon Roy was holding a much lighter kid in his arms.

_So that's how much the automail ways him down…_

Charles then left with all of the equipment he had brought with him, so that they had nothing to even try to make a transmutation circle with. And to be honest, with the way that things were now, they probably wouldn't survive even if they somehow managed to overthrow Charles by using their own blood to draw with. They had no idea how far away from civilisation they were, none of them could walk and it was quite frankly a miracle that the arrow wound in Fullmetal's stomach hadn't been opened up by being thrown around so much.

No, they were utterly screwed.

* * *

**And that's chapter eight for you! **

**I have to say it's a bit funny how I sort of seem to make much more cheerful author's notes the minute I start the torture, he he...**

**See you guys soon!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yay! Three in one day!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And thank you so much to my dear readers, reviewers, followers and favouriters!**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

Once Charles Hopkins had told Anthony to run, he had. He had run as fast as he could, hoping against hope to run into some sort of law enforcement officer. He hadn't seen his Mum for one-and-a-half weeks, but she would have to wait. Ed and Mr. Mustang were hurt badly. Mr. Hopkins may have said that telling the military wouldn't matter, but he was still going to try. He had to help them, they were hurt because they were protecting him, and it just wasn't right.

Unfortunately he didn't find any officers, and he had to slow down to a walk. He had a vague idea of where the local military office was, and he was going to find it even if he'd have to search the whole town! He owed Ed and Mr. Mustang that much.

The last week-and-half had been the most terrifying in his life, but Mr. Hopkins hadn't done anything to hurt him, he had merely used him to write the (frankly bad) poems and messages. The man had fed him well, even bought him clothes. He had basically acted as though Anthony was a doll, and had treated him very well actually.

And it creeped him out.

And then he had seen Ed and Mr. Mustang in the hospital, and it had been so bad to see how he was contributing in this. He felt sick and he felt guilty and he just wanted a long shower to try and sort of wash these last two weeks off of him somehow.

He must have walked for an hour when he finally lit up and began sprinting as he saw the military flag up ahead.

He ran into the building, stopping right in front of the reception desk, panting.

"Hello, young man, is there anything I can help you with?" a confused woman with brown hair asked him.

"I need to talk to someone who knows Colonel Mustang and Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric!"

"I'm sorry, but they don't belong to this office? Why would you make such a request?"

"Because they've been kidnapped! I need to talk to someone! Anyone! Please! They're hurt really bad!"

"Are you serious now, because it would be a serious offence to waste military time?"

"I am! Please! You have to believe me!"

"Okay, what's your name, young man?"

"It's Anthony Evans!"

"The one from all the "missing child" flyers?"

"Probably, yes! That sounds like Mum! Please, I need to talk to anyone involved with this case!"

"We don't have a particular officer here, but I'll find someone who's involved in the investigations department, okay? Please wait here."

She left him and returned five minutes later with a rather plump man with red hair and matching red moustache.

"Here, Anthony, this is Major Parker, he'll help you."

Anthony shook hands with the man and followed him into an office.

Anthony sat down in a couch and told Major Parker everything that had happened the last one-and-a-half weeks.

When he was done, the man stood up and went over to the desk, picking up the phone.

"Get me Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes."

* * *

Maes was worried as hell. The whole goddamned case was confusing. Maes had been curious nine days ago when nobody had answered when he called Roy's office. When nobody answered the next day either, he had taken the train to East City, leaving Major Armstrong in charge of the office. Maes had luckily had had quite a few hours of overtime during the years, and had taken a week long holiday to The East. Or so he had said.

He had reached East HQ two days later. There he had gone to Roy's office, to find it filled by Hawkeye, Alphonse, Breda, Falman, Havoc and Fuery.

"Why hasn't anyone answered my calls?" he had asked.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but we cannot tell you that," Alphonse had said.

"Where's Roy and your brother?"

"We can't tell you."

"What the hell is going on?"

"It's like Alphonse said, we cannot tell you," Hawkeye had said.

"Why are you all here?"

"We cannot leave this building."

Maes had kept asking questions, but had gained no solid information. When there was no sign of Ed and Roy, Maes had called the Fuhrer's office to report the two alchemists missing. It had turned into a gigantic search within the next twenty-four hours.

And then, suddenly, a woman had come into the office, claiming she had met a uniformed man matching Roy's description supporting a rather heavily injured blonde kid who the soldier had called "the Fullmetal Alchemist".

And so Maes had rang every hospital in the area, finding out that Edward Elric had been admitted to the hospital with a serious arrow injury, left within the next twenty-four hours, then been readmitted along with Colonel Roy Mustang who now had a heavily lacerated back. Then the pair of them had apparently been attacked, Ed had been found handcuffed to his bed with his wound reopened, then four days later, the two of them had left the hospital, going nobody knew where.

Maes had gone back to the woman who had seen the pair of them, and asked were it seemed they were going, and Maes had found that they were probably going to Roy's house.

So then he had realised that Roy's couch had been removed, and so he had talked to every garbage truck driver in town, finally finding said piece of furniture at a dump, to see that it was heavily stained with blood, and feeling his heart sink in his chest.

And after that, every lead had dried up.

He had been hopeful when they said that Roy's car had been found outside the graveyard where Ed and Roy had been found, but seeing as the car suddenly had vanished, the trail had gone cold.

And so Maes had been looking throughout the whole of East City, but found nothing.

Until suddenly someone at the front desk called to say that Major Parker from the Amsel office was on the line.

And after just a few minutes, he had ran into the car and driven much too fast to the town of Amsel, finding a small kid with brown hair being hugged tightly by his mother.

And as the kid spoke, things made much more sense.

And so they started a search over the city of Amsel instead.

* * *

"Dinner time!" Charles exclaimed in a sing-song voice half an hour after he had removed Ed's automail. He pushed a hamburger for each of them through the iron bars of the cell. They were served on napkins, not giving them anything sharp to use as a weapon. He then placed a pair of paper cups of water next to them. Ed watched as Mustang dragged himself over to the food with an arm, an elbow and one leg. Mustang had been the only one who sort of was in any shape to actually fetch the food, as Ed had only two limbs left, and both were quite heavily injured.

He hated this. He hurt all over and was basically being kept as a pet. A pet that Charles could do whatever he wanted to.

And he was helpless to stop it.

And he hurt so much.

Mustang ate his food quickly, then he slowly closed his bad hand around the other cup of water while taking the burger in the napkin in the other, painfully slowly dragging himself towards Ed with his good right leg.

Then came the most humiliating part of it all, because Ed had to be fed by Mustang.

At least he was able to sit up on his own now, though, as the drug was finally out of his system.

_Small victories, huh?_

"And now, you two, I am going to tell you a story…" Charles said, making Ed groan inwardly. "It all begins thirty-five years ago, when a pair of twins by the name of Grace and Charles were born. They were the happiest little siblings, because they had each other, and that was all they ever needed. Their father was never home, so they were being looked after by dear Mummy. And dear Mummy was not fond of misbehaving children. Dear Mummy beat them and hit them when they were bad, and one time, when the two twins had had enough, they grabbed a knife each and began to punish dear Mummy instead. And so dear Mummy was no more. The two twins were only ten and managed to convince the nice police officer that a stranger had broken into their house and killed dear Mummy. And so they were sent to the orphanage. They were adopted by a nice woman and a nice man and everything was nice for so long that they almost forgot about dear Mummy altogether. But then the nice woman and the nice man died in a car crash eight years later, but Grace and Charles had got a nice education by the nice woman and the nice man, and so they started training to work in the health system because they wanted to help nice people so that they didn't die in car crashes. And so everything was nice again, just like the nice woman and the nice man had wanted for them. But Grace and Charles also had their gifts, they were able to hear when children sang or recognise when they were truly beautiful beings. Charles acted on his talents quite early, but Grace only found out what her gift truly meant after a very long time. Which was when she started freeing the songs of the souls of some truly lucky children. But then a not nice man decided that Grace was evil and he burned her to death, right after she had found one very special boy and was helping him release the song of his soul. She was doing this Golden Boy a great favour, and she was burned for it. Does this sound familiar to you?"

Mustang nodded, and Charles opened the door, suddenly slashing a kitchen knife over Mustang's chest, making him grunt in pain. "It does, doesn't it? And when people burn the ones that you love, you hurt them back, don't you?" He slashed his knife again.

But when Mustang didn't nod quickly enough for his opinion, Charles slashed Ed across the chest too, making him tip backwards and slam to the ground. Ed groaned slightly.

"Right?!"

Another slash, another groan.

"Yes! Okay! Yes, you do!" Mustang said.

"My thoughts exactly!" And then Charles stomped down on Ed's hand, earning a yelp.

"Please stop! If you're going to hurt me, then hurt ME!" Mustang shouted.

"Oh, but I am hurting you, Roy, I am." He began digging his heel into Ed's hand, making it crunch and Ed yelled out in pain.

_God, if you're out there, please get us out of this!_

* * *

**Oh, and Shadowblade Alchemist, I honestly hope you don't really think I'm a psychopath? **


	10. Chapter 10

**Here we go, chapter ten!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**And thank you to all of you readers, followers, favouriters and reviewers!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Roy was pissed off by Charles.

He knew the moment he had done it, that it had been a bad idea, but he had still thrown himself at Charles' legs.

The man fell off of Fullmetal's hand, and the kid hastily pulled it back as Roy and Charles fell to the floor.

The next second, Roy got a foot in his face and then Charles plunged a needle into his neck.

Roy quickly lost the feeling in his body and was left lying on his stomach as Charles pulled Fullmetal into his line of vision. Charles then sat himself behind the kid, pulling him up to his chest and earned quite a few pained yelps. He then grabbed Fullmetal's hand in his. "Haven't you learned, Roy? Bad behaviour earns punishment!" Then he began breaking Fullmetal's fingers one by one. The kid whimpered which each crack. Charles then threw him to the ground, picking up his right leg and held it about eight inches from Roy's face, and he knew what was coming. He closed his eyes, but Charles shouted at him. "NO! Roy, look! Look and know that this is your fault. Look or I'll break his knee too!"

Roy forced his eyes open, watching as the man broke Fullmetal's toes as well.

Charles stood up and left the cell, slamming the door behind him, before he left the stables all together with a "Remember, Roy! That was YOUR fault! YOURS AND NO ONE ELSE'S!"

Roy couldn't even say anything to Fullmetal as the kid lay there panting, whimpering only thing in Roy's line of vision was those goddamned toes that weren't in the right direction.

"Colonel? The drug will wear off pretty quick if it's the same that he gave me in the hospital."

_How the hell isn't the kid angry with me after that?_

After about five minutes, Roy began regaining the feeling in his body, and after five more, he had full control of his body again. He quickly scrambled forwards and picked the kid up, holding him close to his chest. "I'm so sorry, so, so sorry."

"It's not your fault that that man is a complete psycho. I'd almost say it was worth it just to see you tackle him to the ground. And you only did it to get him off my hand in the first place."

Roy just squeezed him tighter to his chest, putting a hand behind his head. Trying to offer the kid just a tiny bit of comfort in all this pain. Roy had so far got off easy, and it annoyed him to no end. The man was supposed to hurt him physically, not to torture this child just to get back at Roy.

"I'm still sorry."

"Don't. There's no point in apologising for what that man does. It's his fault."

Roy still felt horrible despite Fullmetal's words. It was his duty as his commanding officer to look after this kid, as well as the fact that he was a grownup and this was a thirteen-year-old child. He was supposed to protect him, wasn't he? Instead all he could do was give this kid a fucking hug and that was about it.

* * *

Ed was just sitting there, Mustang was holding him, lending him a bit of warmth and comfort, even though Ed was strong as hell, and he knew it. He didn't need to be hugged.

But right now, it was just easier to let himself be held. An irritatingly large part of him was actually happy to be hugged right now. It was the same part that was scared and in pain and just wanted some escape from this hellhole. And it was the same part that just let himself sink into the warm arms around him for now.

But he couldn't fight the feeling that this was all wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. They weren't supposed to be in a situation where the Colonel was forced to feel like he needed to protect him like this. And Ed cursed Charles for it.

Ed didn't know when, but after a while, he fell asleep. He woke up early the next morning, finding that Mustang had moved the two of them so that he was now leaning his back against the wall with Ed still leaning on his chest. Mustang was sleeping, his head resting on top of Ed's. Ed suddenly heard footsteps crunching in the gravel outside the stable doors, and soon enough, there was Charles, pushing the red wheelchair in front of him. He stopped outside the cell door, smiling down at Ed.

Ed instinctively shifted in Mustang's arms, scared as hell by this man. He had a way too caring look upon his face. The slight movement caused torrents of pain to rip through him from the bullet wound in his thigh, the knife wound in his shoulder, as well as the broken toes, fingers and hand. Ed gasped with pain.

"Good morning, my dear Edward."

"Get away from me."

"Oh, but Edward, I explained this yesterday, don't you remember? Your opinion doesn't matter anymore. You two are my prize, and so you belong to me. You are my possession."

Mustang was shifting, and then he woke up with a grunt. The moment he lifted his head and saw Charles, the protective arms around Ed strengthened their grip. "Don't you touch him," Mustang growled.

"Oh, Roy, I am only going to wash his hair, nothing more."

"You **what**?"

"Such a beautiful child needs to be kept beautiful."

"So why have you hurt him like you have then?!"

"I would think that that was fairly obvious, Roy? He is defective. With his automail, the only part that can be preserved with its true beauty is the head. That is why I need to wash that beautiful golden hair daily. The rest is ripe for punishment."

Ed winced. The man really did think of him like a doll. Somehow the thought of the man washing Ed's hair was more terrifying than the torture he was subjecting them to. He didn't want to go with Charles, not at all.

"You're not taking him anywhere."

"That's not really your choice, Roy. I own you after all."

Charles opened the cell door, and Mustang put his left hand behind Ed's head, making him look away from the deranged man.

Ed didn't know what happened next, but all of a sudden Mustang screamed, holding Ed closer , forcing him to look away. Then Ed heard a sickening CRACK and he could only guess that Charles had broken Mustang's knee, most likely the one with the bullet wound.

"Now, Roy, if you would kindly release your hold on my dear Edward?"

"No," Mustang croaked.

"Dammit, Colonel! Just let me go!" Ed didn't want to sit here and listen to Mustang being tortured just because of a fucking hair wash.

But Mustang just tightened his hold, and suddenly Charles stomped down Ed's own bullet wound, making him shout out in pain.

"**Language**, Ed! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"

"Right, fine!" Ed shouted.

"Now, Roy! Let go of him, or I'll put another bullet in his leg, and you don't want that, now do you?"

Mustang gave Ed a swift squeeze and then lowered him to the floor. Ed couldn't help but be slightly relieved.

Then Charles came over and picked him up, dragging him over to the wheelchair and then lifted him none too gently into the wheelchair. Ed couldn't help but yelp repeatedly.

Then the damned psycho wheeled him out of the cell, slamming and locking the door behind him, before he pushed Ed outside, and Ed finally got a look of where they were. This was clearly an old farm, and Ed was pushed towards a white house that looked disturbingly cozy for the circumstances.

Then Ed was inside and was being pushed into a cozy, brightly painted kitchen. His head was then leaned backwards into the kitchen sink with a much gentler touch.

"So, calm down Edward, I'll just go and fetch the shampoo and a towel, and then I'll be right back."

Ed sat there, tension increasing by the second, not daring to move in fear of Charles deciding that it was time to break Mustang's other leg or something,

Then Charles was back, and he carefully found a handheld shower, he'd probably had it installed for just this sort of thing. He then stood there, waiting for the water to get warm, before he carefully began washing Ed's hair. "Such soft locks, my dear Golden Boy, so fitting for such beauty."

Ed shivered. This was, no doubt, the creepiest thing he would ever experience. Charles gently massaged the shampoo into his hair before he washed it out. He then dried Ed's hair with a towel before he gently brushed his hair. He couldn't help but shiver as the thought of how Charles had probably used that same brush on other kids who were all dead by now.

What Ed found really uncomfortable though, was the way Charles then plaited his hair. Ed could tell that the man must have studied how it usually looked, because it felt exactly the same.

He then pushed Ed outside again and the wheelchair crunched in the gravel.

"**Hold it!**" Someone shouted out.

Ed turned around, and his eyes fell upon a stranger wearing a military uniform. The man had glasses and black hair. And he had a gun pointed at Charles. "Step away from the boy!"

Charles answered with dragging Ed out of the wheelchair before crouching down on the ground while pressing a knife against Ed's throat so hard that it started bleeding. "I don't think so! He's mine! I won fair and square! He belongs to me now!"

The officer put down his gun, but then a shot rang out. Then Ed fell upon the ground on top of a now very dead Charles Hopkins. Ed looked around, and his eyes fell upon the stranger and Hawkeye running towards him.

_Of course **she** had been the one to fire the shot._

The stranger pulled him off of Charles before he gently sat him up. Charles' knife had made a cut across his chest as they fell, but Ed didn't care.

"Ed, god. Listen, where's Roy?"

Ed was just confused. They were safe, just like that? The man had been tormenting and torturing them for one-and-a-half weeks, and was just _gone_?

He turned around, making sure that he wasn't being deceived. No. There he was, blood pouring slowly from a hole in the left temple.

"Roy?" Ed asked, unsure.

"Colonel Mustang, do you know where he is?"

"He's in a cell in the stables, you need a key, Charles has it."

Hawkeye moved to get it and was soon walking towards the building.

"Who are you?" Ed asked after a short while.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." He grinned. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes."

* * *

**And so, I'm sorry to say, the next chapter is going to be the last...**

**(And I just needed Hawkeye to be the one who killed Charles. I had to let her have that at least after being locked inside an office for over a week.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here we are, the final chapter. **

**Thank you so much to the people who have read (and hopefully enjoyed) this story! Thank you so much to every reviewer, favouriter and follower, your support means the world to me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

* * *

**Chapter** **Eleven**

Maes was absolutely horrified when he saw the state that Ed was in. The kid must have been through absolute hell. And the way he hadn't even reacted to having a large cut of about six inches carved into his chest, infuriated Maes to no end.

Somehow he still managed to grin though, out of sheer relief as this boy asked him his name.

"Hughes? The one with the pictures?"

"The very one. Do you want to see?"

"Please, no."

The tired, pained voice in which the kid said it, made Maes actually stop himself from dragging his photographs out of his inner pocket. He felt a strong urge to just hug the kid, the way he looked was just terrible. And the way Charles had talked about how he was his possession, made Maes concerned that the man may have done other things to this kid. He just had to know.

"Tell me, Ed, what were you doing inside the house?"

"He was washing my hair."

"What?" Out of all the answers Maes had expected, that was not one of them.

"Just ask the Colonel. I don't really want to repeat all the psychotic crap that man said right now. He didn't do anything unsavoury if that's what you think."

Maes was relieved. At least the kid had been spared from that. And he still seemed to have the fire in his eyes that Roy had once told him about.

Maes put his hand on the kid's right shoulder, which seemed about the one part of the kid that wasn't hurting him.

Maes had never been more thankful of the urge nine-year-olds had to defy "no trespassing " signs. A couple of local kids had snuck onto the property the day before, and been shell-shocked after they had heard a shot and a scream from inside the old stables. The parents had finally managed to get the kids to talk after they had been woken up by the pair of them having nightmares at about four in the morning. And so the parents had reported it to the police and the police had talked to Maes, and so he had grabbed Riza with him and they had gone off to find the old farm on the off chance that they would find the two alchemists.

Luckily they had been right.

_Which meant…_

"Which one of you were shot?"

"Both."

"What?!"

"He shot the Colonel in the knee and me in the thigh."

Maes felt the urge to hug the kid intensify. He was thirteen for god's sake!

Then suddenly the gravel crunched and Hawkeye came out, supporting Roy who was hopping on one leg. He didn't look even close to how bad Ed looked though, which made Maes even moe furious.

"Fullmetal!" Roy shouted.

"I'm alright, Colonel."

_Well, that's relative…_

Roy hopped over to the wheelchair, sitting down heavily into it with a groan.

"I'm going to phone for an ambulance," Hawkeye stated and left for the house. She too seemed unnerved by the way that Ed looked.

Maes had to agree that it was probably a better idea for them not to be moved inside the car, especially Ed.

_How many broken bones does he have?_

"Thanks for coming, Maes," Roy said.

* * *

Ed was back in the hospital in Amsel. Although this time he had a few more visitors than the last time. Also, this time, he didn't have the room to himself. The Colonel was in the bed by the door. The two of them had both needed surgery, Ed for his hand and shoulder, as well as for removing the bullet fragments in his thigh, and Mustang for his knee. Ed's whole upper body was covered with bandages and he basically felt like hell from all the nausea that the painkillers gave him.

Mustang's presence did have a redeeming feature, as he was having a slightly interesting reaction to the painkillers, and Ed was enjoying his blissful babble rather a lot.

"Maes, you know, when I am Fuhrer, I am going to make everyone wear **miniskirts**!" Mustang declared, pointing his right index finger strictly at Hughes.

Ed didn't know whether he was going to laugh or choke at the mental pictures.

"Boss, you do know that that would include yourself?" Havoc said, obviously having some rather unpleasant mental pictures.

"NO! Because it would only concern the ladies, and all my subordinates would be female! And YOU, Hawkeye, YOU would have to wear a miniskirt!"

"And you, Colonel, would find yourself with a bullet lodged in your skull before you even gave the order," Ed said, laughing, cringing slightly as it upset his arrow wound as well as his shoulder.

Mustang froze. "Hawkeye would wear trousers, then."

Hawkeye sighed. "Thank you, Sir."

Mustang grinned. "You're very welcome, Lieutenant."

Ed was looking around him, taking in the many bouquets of flowers, one from Mustang's team, one from Hughes, one from Major Armstrong although he thankfully wasn't present, as well as one from Anthony and his mother.

Anthony and Mrs. Evans had showed up the day before about an hour after Ed had woken up after surgery. The woman had been sobbing profusely, thanking them from the bottom of her heart for working so hard on keeping her son safe.

"And then you got so hurt, just for him and it's just not right! But thank you! Thank you so much! He's all I have left!" she had wailed before she planted a big kiss on Ed's forehead before turning on Mustang and hugging him before planting a big kiss on his cheek. "I could never repay any of you!"

Mustang had ended up trying to soothe the sobbing woman while also fighting back hysterical giggles at being kissed on the cheek by a woman in her forties.

Anthony had just given Ed a weak smile, obviously finding the situation difficult. Ed could sort of understand why the kid was blaming himself for this, but Ed didn't want him to. After having met Charles, Ed was just glad that the kid was fine and unhurt.

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?" Ed had asked him.

"How can you say that? If you hadn't tried to help me, you would never have been hurt!"

"You met Charles, who's fault would you say it was? The thirteen-year-old being held hostage or the man that actually fucking shot me with an arrow?"

"But still…"

"But nothing. The man was a fucking lunatic, Anthony! He wanted to hurt us, did **_you_**?"

"Of course not!"

"Then it's not your fault. It's that simple."

The kid had seemed to accept it, which made Ed happy. Now the only problem was that it was going to be a long time before he would be able to write letters without having Al write them for him.

* * *

Roy was happy. He was really happy. His subordinates were around him, as well as his best friend. And Charles was dead. Hawkeye had shot him, so it was no question that he was dead.

But for some reason they were all looking at him a bit funny as he warned them about the ants that kept climbing down the wall and could walk straight up in the air to climb over the beds.

Hawkeye left the room saying something about talking to a nurse.

Four hours later, things weren't so funny anymore.

Which was when Hughes deemed the time right for them to know how they were found.

Roy felt his stomach clench uncomfortably at the thought of how many more days, probably weeks they would have been stuck in that hellhole if it weren't for those kids. It had just been luck. Stupid, dumb luck.

And god knew he was thankful for it.

He could take a lot of pain, a lot of torture, but being forced to watch as the man tortured a thirteen-year-old kid that he was supposed to protect…

Listening to the screams and the whimpers and the yelps…

He didn't know how much more he could take of that.

Because Fullmetal sure looked like absolute hell.

Yet the kid hadn't been sobbing, not even once. And it unnerved Roy to no end. It once again brought the question to his mind about whether he had really done the kid a favour or not by bringing him into the military…

Roy still felt like he was going to be sick when he remembered the way the kid's one hand had looked the morning when Charles had been shot. It had been swollen and blue and the fingers were all twisted and clearly broken.

And he hadn't complained, not once. He hadn't even brought it up.

And it scared Roy.

It scared Roy that the kid had hardly let himself feel the pain and the fear like a kid should. Roy should have been holding a sobbing, screaming form that just wanted to get out. Roy should have been taking so much more pain than this child. But the kid had been acting too much like a soldier.

_Have I stolen his childhood from him?_

When they were finally released from the hospital, the two of them were invited to dinner by Mrs. Evans. Roy didn't have the heart to refuse. The woman had been trying to find a way to repay them, and wouldn't just accept the fact that she didn't need to do anything for them.

And so Roy and Fullmetal were limping with a crutch each through the hallway before coming to a stop outside of the small apartment. Roy leaned carefully against the doorbell and they stood there, waiting for the two inhabitants to open the door for them. A pair of smiling faces appeared, and Mrs. Evans hugged him and then kissed Fullmetal on the forehead before leading them into the living room. There they were met by a large, brightly-coloured banner, spelling out "**_THANK YOU!_**"

The woman had gone to a great length with the meal, having prepared three courses, including steak and a large cake that was delicious.

Anthony and Fullmetal had a lot of fun it seemed, and were laughing and joking before they went into a long conversation on a book on plants that Anthony had lent Fullmetal while he was in the hospital.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening, and Roy had realised with a smile that at least all of Fullmetal's childhood wasn't lost to him.

* * *

**And so there we are! I just couldn't help but give the story a happy ending, so I hope you all liked it!**

**And if anyone's interested, I've just started another story that is sort of the same style of parental!Roy/Ed, so if you enjoyed my way of writing, you might want to check it out. (It's called "The Trust Project")**

**And thank you all so much for sticking with me to the end of this story!**

**And HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


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